Chapter 14: Rock and Roll Pt. 2
After Elvis Presley left Sun Records, producer Sam Phillips turned his attention to other emerging talent, including guitarist and singer Carl Perkins (1932–1998). Born in Tiptonville, Tennessee, Perkins grew up in a working-class family of sharecroppers and was deeply influenced by both gospel and country music, as well as the blues traditions of African American laborers he heard growing up. These diverse influences became foundational to his sound and helped define the emerging genre of rockabilly.
In 1956, Perkins recorded “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Studios, a song he had written after hearing a fellow musician complain about someone stepping on his stylish footwear. The recording became a landmark success, charting simultaneously on the pop, rhythm and blues, and country and western charts—an extraordinary achievement at a time when crossover hits were still rare due to racial and genre segregation in the music industry.
Musically, Perkins brought a distinctive edge to rockabilly. His vocal delivery had a rough-hewn, Southern drawl that lended a sense of authenticity to his hybrid style of rock and country, while his guitar style stood out for its clarity, speed, and rhythmic innovation. Drawing on country fingerpicking and blues phrasing, Perkins frequently used double stops (playing two notes at once), alternating bass lines, syncopated fills, and sharp single-note riffs that drove the songs forward. The percussive “slap-back” echo, a hallmark of Sun Studio’s recording, was added to his guitar which gave the illusion that the guitar took up a larger sense of sonic “space.” Perkins’s lead guitar work helped define the role of the electric guitar in rockabilly as the central melodic and rhythmic force—replacing the saxophone commonly heard in mainstream R&B-influenced rock.
At the height of the song’s popularity, Perkins seemed poised to become rock and roll’s next breakout star. However, a serious automobile accident in March 1956 while en route to a national television appearance left him and members of his band badly injured. The crash sidelined his career for a critical period during the rock and roll boom, allowing others, including Elvis Presley, to take the spotlight. Despite this misfortune, Perkins’s influence endured. Presley frequently acknowledged his admiration for Perkins and recorded his own version of “Blue Suede Shoes.” British Invasion bands such as The Beatles also drew heavily from Perkins’s catalog, covering several of his songs and citing him as a major influence. Though his time in the national spotlight was brief, Carl Perkins remains one of the defining figures of early rock and roll. His songwriting, vocal delivery, and especially his groundbreaking guitar technique helped shape the sound and style of rockabilly